HEALTH food chain Holland & Barrett - which has a store in Taunton's Orchard Shopping Centre - is being sold to a Russian billionaire for £1.8billion.
L1 Retail, a fund controlled by Mikhail Fridman, is buying the 1,150-shop chain, which employs around 4,000 staff, from US private equity firm Carlyle.
The chain, which has about 600 stores in the UK, China, India and the UAE, is expected to change hands in September.
L1 Retail managing partner Stephan DuCharme said: "Holland & Barrett is a clear market leader in the UK health and wellness retail market, with attractive growth positions in other European and international markets.
"We believe that the company is well positioned to benefit from structural growth in the growing £10bn health and wellness market and has multiple levers for long-term growth and value creation."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here